PETERSBURG, Fla. — With the future of hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field uncertain, the Tampa Bay Rays will play their 2025 home games at the nearby New York Yankees spring training stadium, Rays executives said Thursday. Announced.
Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said in an interview that Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field is the best fit for the team and its fan base. With approximately 11,000 seats, it is also the largest spring training venue in Florida.
“This is a great opportunity for our fans to experience 81 games of Major League Rays baseball,” Sternberg said. “It’s been difficult to bring these stadiums up to Major League standards, but it wasn’t the most difficult. You’re going to see Major League Baseball in a smaller environment.”
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the deal between the Rays and Yankees is good for baseball and the Tampa Bay region.
“This result fulfills Major League Baseball’s goal of allowing Rays fans to watch their team play next season at home and allowing players to stay home without disrupting their families. ” Manfred said in a news release.
St. Petersburg’s domed Tropicana Field, home of the Rays since 1998, was hit by Hurricane Milton on October 9, with much of its fabric roof torn off and the interior flooded. The city of St. Petersburg, which owns Trop, released an assessment of the damage and repair needs, estimating the cost to be $55.7 million if it was ready by the start of the 2026 season.
The work would require approval from the City Council, which voted earlier this year to build a new $1.3 billion, 30,000-seat stadium starting in 2028 to replace Tropicana Field. The new stadium is named for the historic Gas Works District – a black community that once occupied 86 acres that included retail, office and hotel space. Black History Museum. and restaurants and bars.
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Amid all the uncertainty, there’s one thing the Rays do know. In 2025, the Rays will play in a small outdoor stadium operated by one of their major rivals in the American League East. The stadium has a façade that mimics Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and features plaques of Yankee players with jersey numbers.
Rays co-president Brian Auld said in an interview that Tampa Bay must prepare for a regular-season MLB game against the Colorado Rockies on March 27, just three days after the Yankees suspended training camp.
“It’s going to take a tremendous amount of work to establish our brand,” Auld said. “The word we would like to use for that is ‘Rayful’ to Steinbrenner Field.”
Also, Florida’s hot, rainy summer climate will present weather challenges that the Rays didn’t have to worry about in the dome. The Rays averaged about 16,500 fans per game during the 2024 season.
Steinbrenner Field, formerly known as Legends Field, opened in 1996 on Tampa’s north side. The team is named after longtime Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who ran a shipbuilding company in Tampa and died at his home in Tampa in 2010. Sternberg said one of his sons, Yankees executive Hal Steinbrenner, was instrumental in getting the deal done with the Rays.
“This is a big deal for the Yankees. This is a big ask from us and the Yankees baseball community,” Sternberg said. “(Hal Steinbrenner) didn’t faze for a second. I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Hal Steinbrenner said in a news release that the Yankees are “willing to reach out to the Rays,” noting that the team and his family have “deep roots” in the Tampa Bay area.
“During times like these, competition and competition can take a backseat to doing what is right for our communities as we continue to help families and businesses recover from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helen and Milton.” he stated.
The Tampa Tarpons, one of the Yankees’ minor league teams, play their home games at Steinbrenner Field during the summer. They plan to use the baseball diamond elsewhere in their training facility this season.
